Enrolled SB 140 LAWS OF ALASKA 2024 Source Chapter No. CSSB 140(FIN) am H _______ AN ACT Relating to funding for Internet services for school districts; relating to charter schools; relating to transportation of public school students; relating to correspondence study funding; relating to the base student allocation; relating to funding for reading improvement plans; and providing for an effective date. _______________ BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: THE ACT FOLLOWS ON PAGE 1 -1- Enrolled SB 140 AN ACT Relating to funding for Internet services for school districts; relating to charter schools; 1 relating to transportation of public school students; relating to correspondence study funding; 2 relating to the base student allocation; relating to funding for reading improvement plans; and 3 providing for an effective date. 4 _______________ 5 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 6 to read: 7 LEGISLATIVE INTENT. To the greatest extent possible, a portion of additional 8 funds authorized by this legislation shall be directed to the classroom in the form of educator 9 salary and retention bonuses. Each school district shall provide a report to the senate secretary 10 and the chief clerk of the house of representatives and notify the legislature that the report is 11 available not later than February 1 of each regular session of the Thirty-Fourth Alaska State 12 Legislature describing efforts made by the district to direct additional funds to the classroom 13 in the form of educator salary and retention bonuses. 14 Enrolled SB 140 -2- * Sec. 2. AS 14.03.127(a) is amended to read: 1 (a) Each fiscal year, a district in which one or more schools qualify for a 2 discounted rate for Internet services under the federal universal services program is 3 eligible to receive an amount for each school that is equal to the amount needed to 4 bring the applicant's share to 100 [25] megabits of download a second of the Internet 5 services. 6 * Sec. 3. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 7 Sec. 14.03.256. Charter school termination appeal. If a local school board 8 terminates a contract with a charter school, the charter school may appeal the decision 9 to the commissioner under regulations established by the commissioner. The 10 commissioner may request written supplementation from the appellant or local school 11 board. The commissioner shall review the decision of the local school board to 12 determine whether the findings of fact are supported by substantial evidence and 13 whether the decision is contrary to law. The commissioner shall issue a written 14 decision within 90 days after the appeal is filed and may 15 (1) remand the appeal to the local school board for further review; 16 (2) reapprove the charter school with or without added conditions; or 17 (3) uphold the decision terminating the charter school contract. 18 * Sec. 4. AS 14.03 is amended by adding a new section to read: 19 Sec. 14.03.277. Charter school coordinator. A position dedicated to charter 20 school support is established in the department. This position is responsible for the 21 development of a repository of charter school resources in the department. The charter 22 school coordinator shall provide support to charter schools, including 23 (1) providing charter schools with policy and regulation expertise and 24 guidance; 25 (2) providing groups assistance preparing charter school applications; 26 (3) coordinating with school districts and the Association of Alaska 27 School Boards to support charter school academic policy committees and local school 28 boards; and 29 (4) coordinating with and providing expertise to legal services 30 provided by the state. 31 -3- Enrolled SB 140 * Sec. 5. AS 14.09.010(a) is repealed and reenacted to read: 1 (a) A school district that provides student transportation services for the 2 transportation of students who reside a distance from established schools is eligible to 3 receive funding for operating or subcontracting the operation of the transportation 4 system for students to and from the schools within the student's transportation service 5 area. Subject to appropriation, the amount of funding provided by the state for 6 operating the student transportation system is the amount of a school district's ADM, 7 less the ADM for the district's correspondence programs during the current fiscal year, 8 multiplied by the per student amount for the school district as follows, for the school 9 years beginning July 1, 2024: 10 DISTRICT PER STUDENT AMOUNT 11 Alaska Gateway $2,536 12 Aleutians East 378 13 Anchorage 531 14 Annette Island 222 15 Bering Strait 60 16 Bristol Bay 3,257 17 Chatham 342 18 Copper River 1,934 19 Cordova 409 20 Craig 515 21 Delta/Greely 2,019 22 Denali 2,203 23 Dillingham 1,484 24 Fairbanks 995 25 Galena 310 26 Haines 763 27 Hoonah 364 28 Iditarod 258 29 Juneau 735 30 Kake 331 31 Enrolled SB 140 -4- Kashunamiut 6 1 Kenai Peninsula 1,115 2 Ketchikan 886 3 Klawock 712 4 Kodiak Island 974 5 Kuspuk 797 6 Lake and Peninsula 468 7 Lower Kuskokwim 338 8 Lower Yukon 1 9 Matanuska-Susitna 1,109 10 Nenana 716 11 Nome 757 12 North Slope 1,365 13 Northwest Arctic 30 14 Pelican 88 15 Petersburg 457 16 Saint Mary's 235 17 Sitka 522 18 Skagway 44 19 Southeast Island 1,408 20 Southwest Region 728 21 Tanana 581 22 Unalaska 790 23 Valdez 897 24 Wrangell 854 25 Yakutat 907 26 Yukon Flats 322 27 Yukon/Koyukuk 365 28 Yupiit 2. 29 * Sec. 6. AS 14.17.430 is amended to read: 30 Sec. 14.17.430. State funding for correspondence study. Except as provided 31 -5- Enrolled SB 140 in AS 14.17.400(b), funding for the state centralized correspondence study program or 1 a district correspondence program, including a district that offers a statewide 2 correspondence study program, includes an allocation from the public education fund 3 in an amount calculated by using [MULTIPLYING] the ADM of the correspondence 4 program reported under AS 14.17.500(a) and 14.17.600(a) [BY 90 PERCENT]. 5 * Sec. 7. AS 14.17.470 is amended to read: 6 Sec. 14.17.470. Base student allocation. The base student allocation is $6,640 7 [$5,960]. 8 * Sec. 8. AS 14.30 is amended by adding a new section to read: 9 Sec. 14.30.773. Support for reading improvement plans. The state shall 10 provide to a school district, for each student in grades kindergarten through three who 11 is determined to have a reading deficiency based on the statewide screening or 12 assessment tool, $500 to provide the support, intervention, and services the student 13 needs for the student's reading improvement plan, including teacher and 14 paraprofessional career development. 15 * Sec. 9. Section 2 of this Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c). 16 * Sec. 10. Except as provided in sec. 9 of this Act, this Act takes effect July 1, 2024. 17